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Paradise Valley skier-trackset to Lake Annette

Report Submitted by Mike W
(trip) Date: Thursday Dec 02, 2021

Submitted: Thursday Dec 02, 2021

Participants:

Me and 4 other Rocky Mountain Ramblers

Discussion:

5 Ramblers on AT gear broke trail up Paradise Valley to Lake Annette. Temperature was in the -1C to -3C range, mix of sun and cloud, although you don't get much direct sun this time of year in Paradise Valley! We were on AT gear because we expected deep snow and that we'd be thrashing around too much in light touring gear. It turned out to be a good decision.

Hwy 1 was bare to the Park Gates, but icy beyond. We had to reduce speed to 60-70kph in the Park.

We set out from the Moraine Lake Road (MLR) trailhead at 1000, and broke trail along MLR to Fairview, then up Fairview and along the usual route to Paradise Valley. We crossed the first bridge to the S/SE side of Paradise Creek and stayed on that side the whole way to Lake Annette, in order to avoid exposure to the avi slopes off of Sheol Mountain. Paradise Creek was open in many places, so our track was through woods and meadows within 30 metres of the Creek.

There were a few big avalanches off the N face of Temple, with the powder cloud of one turning the sky to a dark grey and enveloping us with snow and wind for several minutes!

Once we reached the Paradise Creek bridge directly below Lake Annette, we followed the hiking trail up to the Lake. When we skied back down to the bridge, we set a new track on the Creek, which we soon had to abandon due to too many sections of open water. So we just followed our uptrack back to the MLR trailhead.

Overall a safe route, great weather, and a perfect place to be on a high avi danger day.